How To Avoid Getting Terminated, Merch By Amazon
Merch by Amazon is an incredible program for making money. Great for designers, Or anyone who wants an extra side hustle. Unfortunately, It's easy to lose your account.
CHECK TRADEMARKS
This is a huge one. So many people don't know the difference between copyright and trademarks. It's very important to know. I enjoy using
TMHUNT
Or use Trademarkia
There is also the government website.
I've noticed that even short sentences can be trademarked which can make things difficult. I normally don't worry about single word trademarks unless they are made up words, Such as Google, Steemit Etc.
Don't Reference Anything
When you are posting a shirt, Think about where it came from. If you are trying to reference a sports team, Movie, Song, etc.
DON'T Post it! Sounds simple right?
If your shirt design wouldn't exist without "X." Avoid it.
Reverse Image Search
For those of you who hire others to make your designs, Always do reverse image searches on Google to ensure that your designer is not stealing graphics they shouldn't be. Often even those "free" sites where it's allowed can get you in trouble as Amazon is cracking down on copycats. Be extra careful with people on Fiverr.
I've noticed a lot of designers on there will sometimes do things they shouldn't. Don't be afraid to pay a little more for quality, Or hire someone who will work long term (They will often give you better pricing.) Upwork is a great site for that.
Conclusion
It doesn't take much to lose your account, And sometimes it can be hard to get an account in the first place.
There are a lot of buyers on Amazon, and there are a lot of sellers also. This means that when you have a new idea or try to sell to a certain market – you will rarely find you are the only seller there – and even if you are, you probably won’t be for long. Competition is good for buyers, but it has already begun to drive down prices in Merch By Amazon, and that makes it harder to make big money in the busy niches. @kaylinart
Exactly! You have to get good at it, And start to build your own audience. Which will help a lot.
Thanks for advice @kaylinart
No problem :)
Thank you so much, for this advice, I'm grateful @kaylinart
It's really hard to market it when there are so many copycats involved. You can be terminated even if you don't provide good customer support, you can always add this point. Getting feedback and acting on it is very important.
Luckily for Merch there isn't customer support. But I know what you mean, Sometimes copycats will try and take you down.
What I mean is that anyone who is selling should make customers their #1 priority. Customer is king.
This is a huge one. So many people don't know the difference between copyright and trademarks. It's very important to know, I'm agree with you.
Resteemed done !
Amazon, if you're reading this, you NEED to be more transparent about these kinds of things. This is incredibly worrying for all of your sellers -- we want you to help us and protect us, not have us waiting in fear every morning for that dreaded account termination email.
The vast majority of us are trying our damn best to stay in good standing and turn this merch opportunity into legitimate and stable small businesses for ourselves.
This the first time I ever heard of Merch by Amazon. I do use Amazon itself a bit here and there though.
Really? Maybe you should check it out. It might be something you'd be interested in.
It's extremely difficult to advertise it when there are such a large number of copycats included. You can be ended regardless of whether you don't give great client bolster
Yes!
There was no idea about Amazon, but after reading your post later it was easy to lose the account due to some mistakes.
Exactly! It's a great program though.
Great post.Thanks for sharing it.
Upvoted and resteemed
Thank you
How Sweet
Thanks?
Good information..
Upvoted and resteemed
Thank you so much :)